My great uncle was a member of the 82nd Airborne during WW II. He made every combat drop the unit ever made (I THINK he was also in action in North Africa, but I'm not sure about that), was in some seriously heavy combat, and was never even so much as scratched.

He never spoke about it much, but not long before he died he did say that he originally had been issued a carbine, and after his first combat use, he couldn't find an infantryman quickly enough to trade it for an M1 Garand.

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